Railway design, construction, and gardening

Hi all,

I am looking for track to start off my Garden railroad. I already have some LGB brass track but it is not enough and I have a big lawn to circle. I am looking for about 50 feet or more of track and that is costly. If anyone knows of some good buget track that would be great.

Thanks,

Optisailorusa

Less expensive track? You joined the hobby about 4 years too late for that. In the last 3~4 years the price of rail has jumped by about 350%~400%. China has been buying up a big chunk of the world's supply of copper/brass, causing the massive increase in prices. I would suggest cruising through all the advertisements in GR mag, especially their websites. Book mark them all and check everyone every week. You just might find a special limited time pricing somewhere. Other than that, the next best bet would be to wait until January for the "3 for price of 2" or "4 for price of 3" sales.

Hi Welcome to the forum,      Track keep an eye on ebay there are some good offers on there, as you have LGB brass try and keep what you need to the same make. hpoe this helps.  

Hi and welcome to large scale railroading, A good source is your local hobby shop if they do consignments. That's what happened to my brass track, I am using all stainles steel.

Dave

If you are sticking with brass, the new AML track is some of the lowest cost out there, and many people have purchased it and are very happy.

Regards, Greg

http://www.train-li-usa.com/

That works out to about $6.50 per foot (rail plus ties), then add another fifty cent to a buck per foot or so for your road bed.

Hi all,

Thank you very much for the welcome and the advise. I have been watching ebay quite regularly now but I am not sure that I want to get in to flex track as I would like it to be simple to replace and repair. Next question. What would you recommend doing to keep the track togeather? Track Clamps? Gorrila Glue? or something fairly simple. Thanks,

Optisailorusa

 You did not state battery or track power. For battery power, use the stock slide on joiners. For track power I ALWAYS recommend rail clamps. You can go from inexpensive to expensive, and the quality follows the cost.

Low end: Aristo

Middle: Train-Li

High end: Split Jaw

(my opinions)

Regards, Greg

I am using a track powered system for a small garden layout. I am on a fairly tight buget but I would like something that lasts and holds.

Thanks,

Optisailorusa

Optisailorusa

It has been said many time in many places on this forum. But I'm gonna risk it again.

"Over power the power supply. Oversize the curves. Buy entirely too much track. Buy twice the number of turnouts you figure you will need. Then when that one engine comes along that you just cannot live without, you have already done all the "upgrading" needed to accommodate. The best part of it is that you finished your "upgrading" before another large increase in the prices hit!"

In my case I used 5 ft flex rails. I soldered the rails (see Tips and Tricks in current issue of GR) into 10 ft sections. I use Split Jaw clamps to join the longer sections. (cost cutting measure) I run track power and have no problems.

p.s. extra track and turnouts can easily form a temporary yard until needed elsewhere. (and it will be properly "aged"/"patinaed" by then.)

I have to believe I lucked out. I just picked up two loads of used track. 1st lot is LGB flex track brass. Over 550' with ties and an additional 80-100' in bare rails needing ties. Also came with SJ clamps for every joint. 6 large remote switches. Paid $500.00  2nd lot is 650' of AC SS rail. Flex rail and some sectional pieces. 4 #6 remote switches. $1,800.00. All the track is used but in pretty much excellent condition. I've been waiting to build my railroad until my entire yard was done with landscaping other than the area for my trains. I kept watching the price of track go up. This coming year is when I'm going to get the railroad started so I called a local garden railroad designer for some advise and mentioned I needed track. He set me up with the first lot and I found the other lot thru a Ebay add of a local guy. Made a call and bought the lot. Here in New England the SS is the way to go but people have used brass for years with no trouble. This is my first post but I will be posting more as the railroad begins to take shape. 

 Good score!

 I have a mix of brass and stainless track, about half and half, and to be honest I haven't seen a big difference between them. Stainless might be a little better for me, but not much. Other people report  that stainless is dramatically better. I think it depends heavily on where you live and what very local things give you problems. My experiences with track conductivity vary a good bit with the seasons. In general you can't really go wrong with stainless

 As far as track joiners, I'd say yes clamps are the best if you are goign to run track power, but I still have some sections of track connected by Aristo's screw joiners, and they are still working just fine. If cost is an issue, in my experience you can add clamps gradually, as needed. It's possible to let the perfect be the enemy of the good--just because clamps are better, doesn't mean not having clamps won't work